Don,
In, regards to your question. The difference between Allstarlink and Hamvoip.
Allstarlink is an open source project that was originally created by Jim Dixon WB6NIL who is now an SK.
Jim is now passed on and was the inventor of AllStarlink.
He was also responsible for many aspects of Asterisk and mainly wrote the app_rpt software application that makes Asterisk capable of being a full blown repeater controller, capable of several ports per computer host.
Allstarlink has always been an open source project, as Jim Dixon had no interest in selling it outright, or as a paid application.
To say the very least, Jim Dixon was all about open source.
The Allstarlink project is protected by GPL, a license that’s visible when viewing the Source Code of Allstarlink and every derivative of it.
There have been many contributions made to this open source project by various individuals throughout the years.
There are several versions of Allstarlink software that can run on various operating systems on a Pi, PC or a virtual machine somewhere on the internet.
You can take a look at the various versions of open source software here on this page in the Download sections.
https://wiki.allstarlink.org/wiki/Main_Page
You can always modify the software as long as you share your modifications to the rest of the ham community by keeping it open source.
The folks at AllStarlink put a lot of time, effort, and money into continuing the Allstarlink project.
They are fully responsible for vetting new members (making sure they a licensed amateur radio operators), issuing node numbers, running servers to allow connections between its members, and a website to make it all happen.
Allstarlink provides free support via several contact methods.
Allstarlink is (mainly) funded by several individuals who regularly donate to it. In other words, it’s generally free to the users. This doesn’t mean it’s free to maintain.
There are real monthly costs associated with running it. I’m not mentioning this for any recognition - I’m simply trying to let folks know it’s not free to make this project available to the amateur public.
Hamvoip is closed source software that runs on a Pi.
The folks at HamVoIP had several ideas of their own and were mostly met with resistance from Jim.
That led to Jim making the statement that the folks at HamVoIP should fork the project, and do as they please.
If you fork a project protected by the GPL, you must do one of two things:
1 - Use it for your own purposes and NOT distribute or support it publicly.
2 - Comply with the GPL and release your changes to the public.
If (and only if) you do the latter, are you allowed to redistribute your version of the work. What does this mean?
It’s perfectly legal to fork a Linux project, but, if you are going to redistribute a derivative to the general public, you MUST release the source code.
73
Marshall - ke6pcv
···
From: Don Ritchie via AllStarLink Discussion Groups [mailto:noreply@community.allstarlink.org]
Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2019 9:00 AM
To: ke6pcv@cal-net.org
Subject: [AllStarLink Discussion Groups] Information needed
k8zgw
October 19
Being rather new to the whole “allstar” thing, in need a little “clarification” on the whole subject.
While I have discovered there is a difference “allstarlink” and “hamvoip”, I’m not sure what it is.
Apparently there is some political stuff, that I’m not really interested in, but I would really like
to understand the difference in operation. I was always taught to be “fluid”, so some of my thinking has changed a bit, as to the way I would like to achieve my goal.
The Goal is still to set-up a remote base, and still use the 6 meter Mastr II
( yes that is the way GE spelled it).
While I currently have the “HamVoIP” distro running in my Pi’s, sd cards are cheap
and I could “move” to the “allstarlink” distro.
I need to do the “thing” where I can get the most help, while I have been playing
with the internet since before Gore invented it, there are things that are confusing to me.
(It could be my age ;-} )
I would like to build a “radio-less” node, as it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me to use
“CCJ” ( cheap Chinese junk) radios to do this.
I had thought I could use the Pi GPIO’s for PTT and to change channels, but It looks
like I may have been wrong in this thinking, so I guess I am going to have to find some “programing” help for my radio-less node. and IF I keep typing this will be way to long.
I would like any suggestions I can get from THIS group.
Thanks
Don, K8ZGW
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